


Your Heart on Your Scales

by owlsshadows



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Commotion, Crushes, Curses, Dragon AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 08:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15577722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlsshadows/pseuds/owlsshadows
Summary: When a dragon appears on the skies above Karasuno, Chikara is reminded of his childhood nightmares.“Two days ago, a sheep went missing. Yesterday, they found the remains of a cow by the river. And today, little before dawn, Shouyou has finally seen it.”“Couldn’t he have imagined it?” Chikara asks back, looking at his brother with little hope in his heart.Tadashi shrugs, and scratching his freckle-covered nose he shakes his head.“His eyes are sharp,” he mumbles.“But he’s been looking forward to see a dragon since the moment he heard the legend of the Little Giant!” Chikara tries once more.“There were claw marks on that cow,” Hisashi says. “You’ve seen them too, Chikara.”Written for EnnoTana Week 2018, Day 5, for the following prompts: Fantasy ☆ Blue ☆ First





	Your Heart on Your Scales

“Two days ago, a sheep went missing. Yesterday, they found the remains of a cow by the river. And today, little before dawn, Shouyou has finally seen it.”

“Couldn’t he have imagined it?” Chikara asks back, looking at his brother with little hope in his heart.

Tadashi shrugs, and scratching his freckle-covered nose he shakes his head.

“His eyes are sharp,” he mumbles.

“But he’s been looking forward to see a dragon since the moment he heard the legend of the Little Giant!” Chikara tries once more.

“There were claw marks on that cow,” Hisashi says. “You’ve seen them too, Chikara.”

“I think it’s not a question whether it’s a dragon or not,” Kazuhito adds. “But rather, how the Chief will act.”

The village of Karasuno is a secluded settlement deep in the forest, surrounded by mountains from the East and the North. Its winters are harsh, the summers scorching hot; the farmers’ hard work is exposed to the rough weather conditions just as often as it is to the beasts coming from the woods. The forest itself is an ancient one, with trees so thick and old, sunlight scarcely reaches the ground. It crawls up deep into the mountains; its clearances, caves inhabited mostly by bears, deer and wild boars.

It has been three, almost four years since the village has last seen a dragon.

It killed poultry, burned down the bridge connecting the village with the fields and the Black Castle, and the girl from the Tanaka household went missing.

Back then, as tradition dictates, the Chief has ordered to sacrifice a virgin in order to save the village from further danger. They called it the dragon’s bride; an offering to the mighty creature in exchange of the safety of everyone else. The council of elders chose Kazuhito’s sister back then to carry out the ritual – her life was only saved thanks to a knight from the Black Castle, going by the nickname Little Giant. Allegedly, he fought the dragon and died, dragging the creature with him to the afterlife. Chikara doesn’t quite know how much of the story is true. He is not Shouyou, after all, to believe all the gossips and tales as if they were immediate truth – he’d rather believe the facts and what he has seen with his own eyes.

Back then, upon Saeko’s disappearance, the whole village went into an uproar. The Chief had a clash with the knights, who were against holding the ritual, up to the point where the Little Giant and his comrades walked up to Kazuhito’s home to safeguard the girl selected by the elders. Later that night, the Little Giant took his horse and galloped into the forest. He has never been seen again, nor was the dragon.

Up until the day before yesterday.

And now they chose Kiyoko as the dragon’s bride.

Their neighbor Kiyoko, who has helped Chikara and Tadashi so much after their mother fell ill. Kiyoko, who silently supported them. Kiyoko, the sweet, strong Kiyoko, who was like an older sister to them.

“No matter what, we can’t let the crazy old man kill Kiyoko-san,” Chikara says finally.

“But what can we do?” Hisashi asks. “We are not knights. We dropped out, remember?”

“There must be something even someone like us can do.”

“I’m sure that the black knights won’t let it happen,” Tadashi adds, meekly. “Captain Daichi knows how to deal with the Chief. He can…”

“Yeah, probably,” Chikara cuts in. “But we can’t know for sure, right?"

“I can try to see with Tsukki,” his brother offers. Chikara for one, can’t get angry with him. Pure, innocent Tadashi, of course he trusts the blond magic caster, he has saved him as a kid from bullies. He idolizes him.

But what can he, Chikara do? Of course, he likes the knights as well, and he would like to trust them, he really would like to. But when he decided that training was too hard and ran away, none of them came knocking on his door to bring him back.

And that’s him blaming someone else for his own weaknesses.

He regrets dropping out, of course he does. But not everyone can be a hero. Someone needs to be a farmer, too.

“For now… let’s return to the fields,” he murmurs, standing from the table. “Kazuhito, Hisashi, thanks for coming.”

“I am with Tadashi on this one,” Kazuhito says as goodbye. “They didn’t let the old man kill my sister. They will save Kiyoko-san too.”

“Have some faith,” Hisashi adds.

Chikara nods, waving after them as they leave.

It’s not their fault, yet Chikara can’t help but be frustrated at the world. It his ideology, there’s nothing worse than feeling helpless and to be forced to rely on someone.

The fault is with the dragon, be it the same or a different one, who attacks their village and steals their cattle.

The fault is with the Chief, that crazy old man, and his rotten book of traditions.

“God of Crows, help us,” Chikara murmurs, unaware of his brother’s intent gaze on him.

Tadashi is an observant kid. He was only twelve during the last dragon attack, but he still remembers it clearly. He remembers the forlorn face of Ryuu when they met him after the disappearance of his sister. He remembers the panic on Kazuhito’s face when the sacrifice has been announced. And he recalls, before it all, the trembling Chikara, barely thirteen, arriving home in wet clothes one day. It was before the disappearance of Saeko. Before the Little Giant showed up in his shining black armor. Before the whole village went crazy.

It was Chikara who saw the dragon for the first time back then, and he fell into the river in fear.

Tadashi remembers it all, because it is their secret – one of the very few things his brother never shared with his best friends.

A decision forms in his head, one that could possibly solve everything.

“I will speak with Tsukki!” he jumps, running out the door.

 

☆☆☆

 

Tadashi is out of the room before Chikara could notice.

“Hey, wait!” he calls after him, but it’s too late. If something, Tadashi has long legs, and can run fast. “Shit.”

Stopping his brother from doing something stupid is not frequently needed from Chikara – Tadashi is a scaredy cat unlike his friend, Shouyou, who would jump head first into trouble. Chikara doubts that Tadashi would do something entirely stupid. He is a good kid, a meek kid, someone who panics often, but otherwise a fast thinker. Chikara doubts his brother would do something crazy – yet when he reaches the main road, and notices his brother’s figure running towards the village instead of the Black Castle, he has a bad premonition.

Speaking with the knights is one thing. Speaking with the Chief is another.

Chikara quickens his steps, swearing beneath his teeth.

If only he continued training with the knights, he wouldn’t be in such a vulnerable state. But let alone sword fighting, he couldn’t even learn how to ride a horse. Even his archery was mediocre. He noticed early that he could never be as fast or strong as Ryuu, or as skillful and wild as Noya.

He was simply no good.

Someone needed to tend to the fields, too.

Crossing the river, Chikara meets the old Ukai followed by a pack of young kids eager to listen to his heroic tales, and it sparks a memory in him, a tale he heard in his childhood, one that his late grandma used to tell them before he fell asleep.

The tale was about a group of younglings, who wandered off to the forest and deep into the mountains in search for the dragon’s treasures. Chikara’s grandmother was a talented storyteller – Tadashi and he was always on edge with every twist and turn – and she had seemingly never-ending fantasy to continue the tale. She would always pick it up where she left off the night before, and include new threats, new dangers the imaginary adventurers had to face.

If not for the crazy elements of magic and curses his grandma was highly fascinated with, Chikara could have bet that the story was that of their ancestors, Sawamura the Heroic, the Crazed Tanaka, Suga the Swift and Ennoshita the Wise. They were said to be the founders of Karasuno, back in the day, who arrived to the valley after a long adventure. Out of them, only Ukai the Resilient is alive now – and his tales, they never quite match those of Chikara’s grandma’s.

In Ukai’s tales, there was never a curse befalling the warriors. They were fearlessly fighting beasts, using their numbers, bravery and cunning to overcome any obstacle.

In his grandmother’s, there was one, the bravest and strongest, who decided to sacrifice himself for the others and take up the curse that came with the fortune they have found.

Arriving to the main square, as a shadow catches his attention, Chikara wonders whether the dragon’s curse is really that fictional after all.

Looking up to the sky, he spots it almost immediately. A grand, grey beast flying in the twilight, the last rays of sunshine glimmering blue on its scales.

It’s a different one, he finds, from the first dragon he has seen. That one seemed smaller, and not that it couldn’t grow in the past three years, but it had a soft golden sheen to it. This one looks much more metallic, as if it was flying in armor.

“Dragon!” he hears Shouyou’s shriek from the sentry tower, along with the bells signaling danger.

Like a disturbed beehive, the villagers start swarming in search of cover. Children cry, animals screech, panic and disorder rises. In the chaos that suddenly engulfs him, Chikara looks around, searching the crowds for his brother.

“Tadashi!” he shouts, but his voice gets lost in the commotion. He’s mind goes blank, frantic. His steps wobble, bumping into people on his way. “Tadashi!”

The dragon flies past the village, heading towards the forest. The bells go quiet, abruptly so. As the village goes into a shocked state of silence, Chikara lifts his head towards the sky where the dragon disappeared.

He has seen a dragon before.

At age thirteen, he wandered off, looking for a sheep stayed away from their farm.

He met the dragon in the forest behind the village, on a clearance by the river. It was a majestic creature, grand and elegant. It picked up the sheep Chikara was trying hard to get to return home, and swallowed it whole.

The dragon has seen him too, turning its giant head, puffing smoke in his face. He remembers his own reflection, small and frail and trembling in its huge, chestnut colored eyes.

The dragon nudged him with its nose, as if it was ready to play with its prey. Chikara jumped, faster than ever, into the river, swimming with the flow down towards the village.

The dragon didn’t follow him.

It could be sheer luck, or the dragon’s preferences, but he survived.

Now, at age seventeen, he highly doubts he would have such a chance again, should they meet again.

“Tadashi!” he calls out again, looking for his brother at the marketplace, along the small shops, at the house of the Chief. No one has seen him.

As his last resolve, Chikara walks up to the Black Castle – maybe, just maybe, if Tadashi was to take a detour towards the village, but then went for the castle – only to be greeted with an even bigger commotion than that of the village.

The knights are standing in a circle, surrounding someone in the middle, who seems to be shouting. As Chikara pushes his way through to see what’s happening, he finds Kiyoko, dressed head-to-toe in black armor, helmet in hand and her father’s sword on her side.

“We can’t let a woman in our ranks!” Chikara hears someone in the crowd.

“She passed the entrance exam!” Knight Koushi replies, lifting his arm between the shouting boy and the girl. “We have no rule that says that a woman can’t join us, and you have no right to deny her if she fights better than you!”

“Come on, people!” Captain Daichi raises his voice, clapping his hands together. “We have no time fighting over who gets to be a knight or not. We have bigger problems to face.”

“But she is…” comes the pained voice of the first boy. He seems to be new, for Chikara not to recognize him.

“Stop it!” Daichi grumbles. “A dragon has been seen over the sky this evening and one of our men has gone missing.”

“One of their men…” Chikara mumbles.

“It’s Ryuu,” he hears the knight right next to him, and as he glances down, his eyes are met with Noya’s worried glance. “After what happened with his sister when the last dragon came, I’m afraid he is after this one on his own.”

“Oh, for the God of Crows,” Chikara hisses in reply.

“A dragon is here,” Kiyoko starts speaking after the general murmuring dies off a little. To her voice, even the last ones speaking go silent. “The Chief wants to offer it a sacrifice. He selected me. But if I have to die, I would rather die fighting it myself. So please. Let me be a knight of yours for now. I promise, I will fight the dragon and bring back Tanaka.”

“Kiyoko-san…”

“Kiyoko!”

“I’ve never heard her speak this much before,” Noya murmurs beside Chikara, sparkles in his eyes.

“This reminds me,” Chikara says, grabbing onto the shoulder of the short knight. “Have you seen Tadashi?”

“Tadashi?” calls another voice, and as Chikara turns, he is faced with Tsukishima the sorcerer’s apprentice. “He left a note earlier today. He said he wanted to meet me…”

The tall boy goes pale in an instant, fingers gripping on his staff.

“Where? He wanted to meet where?” Chikara presses.

“In the forest.”

“No.”

“There’s a clearing by the river,” Tsukishima continues, eyes wide and voice trembling. “We tend to meet up there. He is learning magic from me.”

“No,” Chikara repeats, his breath leaving him empty. As if he exhaled his soul, he stands in the castle, amidst all the commotion, as a vacant shell. His legs go numb, arms shaking by his sides. “I’m going in.”

He’s not waiting for reply or approval as he turns on his heels. He hears Noya calling after him, hears the cry of the sorcerer as he notifies his captain of the situation. He hears Kiyoko’s shriek.

Saving her, who seems to be able to save herself quite well, gets pushed to the back of his mind. Another thought occupies him now, overwhelming him.

His little brother. His lanky brother, who dared to outgrow him. His brother, who is bothered by his freckles and lack of athleticism, might be alone in the forest with the beast.

 

☆☆☆

 

Night tends to arrive to the valley unannounced. As the sun sets behind the mountains, light lingers for a while, painting the village in a twilight that blurs away the sharpness of lines and melts the horizon into the forest.  After a long, lingering moment of goodbye, the pink fades from the horizon and the real darkness comes in suddenly and mercilessly, taking away all colors and all shapes. The forest becomes a maze of darkness and silence, where one can hear his own breathing echoed between the ancient trees.

Chikara walks slowly. He knows this place by heart, even if he has not crossed the border of the forest for the last three years. His feet take him forward, memories surfacing with each step. He’s afraid beyond belief, but he goes deeper, squinting to distinguish the trees from the darkness.

As the moon rises, and its light gets filtered through the leaves, it paints the path in marble white. Chikara feels as if he walked on lace, or one of those intricate crocheted tablecloths from the Chief’s home.

It’s just before the clearing that he hears it – the rustling of wings, the cracking of dry wood under the heavy feet of the monster, a male voice groaning painfully.

Chikara flies through the trees without thinking, arriving on the meadow in three big steps.

It’s not Tadashi.

The pained face, painted unhealthy white by the moonshine, the arms, fingers digging into the ground, the boy crawling out from the woods, heaving heavily – it’s Ryuu.

The one Chikara thought of as is biggest rival back in his days of knight training – same age, similar physique, yet Ryuu just happened to be faster, stronger, more skilled in everything they ever tried. They grew up together, only for Chikara to draw apart from him during their days in the Black Castle. Ryuu was always shining. His positive outlook and never-ending resolve made Chikara respect and admire him – moreover, he charmed him.

And once Chikara realized his feelings, he understood that the only reason he stayed in the training programme, even after all the failures, was to see Ryuu’s smile. And once he realized how futile his efforts were, and how tiny his chance was at ever earning Ryuu’s attention – he dropped out.

After all, someone needs to tend to the fields.

The bile of his past decisions not quite leaving him, Chikara runs across the glade to reach for his friend.

“Ryuu! Are you injured?”

The boy looks up at him, his grey eyes darkening as he recognizes him.

“Chi… kara,” Ryuu hisses. “Go away.”

“Are you injured?” Chikara repeats. “Did it catch you? I heard the dragon nearby…”

“Go… away,” Ryuu says, gripping Chikara’s wrist.

Strong, hard fingers curl around his skin, claws grazing its surface. Looking down, Chikara sees grey scales covering Ryuu’s hands, crawling up his arm. A thumb comes up to caress the inside of his arm, ending in a long, grey nail that could double as a dagger any day.

“I have nothing to be afraid of here,” Ryuu friend tells him, “but myself.”

“You are the dragon!” Chikara hisses, tearing himself away from Ryuu and falling on his back. The throaty noise coming from his friend is barely human, and could hardly be called a laugh.

He crawls further out of the forest – shedding scales, his torso is turning more and more human with every inch he takes. His wings recede into his back, his tail shrinks and disappears above a scaled bottom. He shivers in pain, a deep growl tearing up from his throat before he goes still.

Chikara is stiff, blood frozen in his veins and heart stopped in his chest – he is afraid even to breathe.

Ryuu moves after a short while, shaking the remnants of his scales off. Chikara watches silent as they turn into dust and vanish into thin air before his eyes. It’s not something he can comprehend, and definitely not something he would believe if, let’s say, Shouyou was talking about it.

“We are cursed,” Ryuu says finally, voice barely a whisper.

Chikara needs a few seconds to collect himself – first, reminding himself to take a deep breath, then pinching his face to check whether he’s dreaming. When all checks are done and gone, and Ryuu still lies before him naked on the grass in the moonlight, he finally manages a short “we?”

“Saeko-nee and me.”

It takes some time to digest, some more to think it through. But after all, Chikara is a clever boy, even if he has never managed to understand the art of horse riding.

“So that dragon back then?” he asks.

“Saeko-nee,” Ryuu nods, pulling himself up in a sitting position slowly. “She… she didn’t want to frighten you. She told me to tell you that, once I get the chance.”

“Thanks,” Chikara blinks. Then blinks again.

In front of him sits a bare naked Tanaka Ryuunosuke, looking at him apologetically. He could understand the situation if, let’s say, they were talking about some old prank, or maybe a game of cards where Ryuu cheated.

But they have a conversation about dragons, for the love of crows, just after he has seen his friend transform.

“Have you seen my brother?” he asks then.

“Tadashi?” Ryuu raises a brow. “No.”

“Not even in your… other form?”

“No. No! I wouldn’t harm anyone. I swear.”

“But you’re a dragon.”

“Technically,” Ryuu starts, but he stops mid-sentence.

“Yes?”

“It was my birthday the day before.”

“So? I’m afraid this is not the time for congratulations.”

“No, it’s not,” Ryuu agrees. “The thing is. We are cursed, so on our seventeenth birthday we kinda… turn into a dragon.”

“… sounds great,” Chikara nods.

“It’s because our grandfather couldn’t say no to cursed gold, and he tried to smuggle a pendant out from a dragon’s cave. Or rather, he didn’t try, he did. And proposed to my grandmother with it. And they married, and they had a kid, and my father turned into a dragon when he was seventeen, and…”

“So this is a curse,” Chikara cuts in, and takes a mental note to confront Ukai Ikkei about his tales, and the ones Chikara’s grandmother was telling. “What is the catch? I mean… your father must have returned to the village to have you and your sister… by the way, what about Saeko-san?” There are so many things he wants to ask, and Ryuu seems way too weak to answer them all.

“Saeko-nee is good,” he says. “How do I say it… after Kurokami found her, they kinda… eloped?”

“By Kurokami, you mean the Little Giant?”

“Yeah.”

“So the whole fighting the dragon thing was made up.”

“No, he really thought that Saeko-nee was taken by the dragon… just like you thought that Tadashi was… but I swear, I didn’t even see your brother all day, and… I keep my consciousness in my dragon form, it’s just that I’m way too hungry to miss out on sheep…”

“There’s plenty of deer in the forest.”

“You try to fly up to them next time and return to morning duty next morning,” Ryuu croaks.

“So… you turn into a dragon. When? How? And what is the catch?” Chikara repeats, impatience building up in him.

There’s a long silence before Ryuu speaks, eyes ever apologetic.

“We turn when the sun sets behind the mountains, and return to our true forms at dawn,” he says. “So… we stay in our dragon forms for the night, with the exception of… if…”

Chikara raises an eyebrow.

“So, Saeko-nee was hiding in this cave just above us,” Ryuu continues, speech slightly confounded. “And she hears steps in the forest. She didn’t want to reveal herself as she didn’t want to fight anyone, but Kurokami has a way good sense, so he found her, and there she thought she will have to fight for her life and injure, or worse, kill him…”

Chikara raises his other eyebrow, slowly placing the pieces together.

“Kurokami stands in the entrance of the cave, he raises his sword, lets out a war cry, and the next moment my sister is back to her human form,” Ryuu says, looking anywhere, but at Chikara.

“Why?”

“They… they were kind of in love, actually.”

“So you say that the curse can be broken by the power of love?” Chikara repeats, wary. In any other context, he would brush these kind of fairy tale jokes away, but he has a bad premonition that Ryuu is serious.

“Ye-yeah,” his friend mumbles, avoiding eye contact even more suspiciously than before.

“It’s still night,” Chikara continues, blood once again freezing in his veins. His heart beats so slowly, that he is afraid it will sink into his stomach and he will digest it whole. “But you turned back to normal, because?”

“I was flying, looking for prey,” Ryuu starts. His stomach grumbles to back up his story just at the right moment. “And then I’ve spotted a human walking in the forest. It’s dangerous to be out at night, so I thought it may be someone trying to hunt me down, just like Kurokami did with my Nee… and so I wanted to check out who it was, I hover above the trees, and I see you…”

“And you turn back?”

“I started to turn back in air,” Ryuu says embarrassed. “I almost crashed as I fell.”

“Does this mean that…?” Chikara asks, slowly.

“I’m so sorry!” Ryuu falls to the ground, groaning. “I swear it was not on purpose, and I swear I would never act on it. So please… please keep my secret, and I promise to never bother you again!”

“But you turn into a dragon if you are not by the side of the person you love?” Chikara asks, his innocent tone working just fine, while his insides feel like exploding. The Tanaka Ryuu who charmed him, whose attention he gave up on, actually has feelings for him? Worse things could have happened with a dragon in the picture.

“I will try to be more careful. I know I was seen today, but Daichi-san insisted on me cleaning the stairs, and suddenly the sun went down, and I was transforming in the highest tower of the castle. You have to fly across the village to reach the forest you know!”

“You fly,” Chikara mumbles. _And you love me_ , he adds, mentally, heart bubbling up in his throat.

“Well, I…” Ryuu starts, but he suddenly stops. “People,” he says, pointing at the forest. “From the village.”

Chikara squints, and shortly he sees it too. Lights wobble between the trees. The wind carries the obscure sound of cries.

“One of them is Noya,” Ryuu says, paling.

“They must’ve sent a search party for you,” Chikara says softly.

“That’s bad,” Ryuu replies. “I’m naked. How would I…”

“Question,” Chikara cuts in. “What if you left my side? Would you transform back to a dragon?”

“I… maybe? I don’t know. It’s not something Saeko-nee told me.”

“Hnn. I see. Then, you must have been attacked,” Chikara scratches his chin. “Yeah, and the dragon tore your clothes off.”

“Actually, my clothes are in the castle tower…”

“So! The dragon blew off your clothes and dragged you out here.”

“I don’t think they would believe it…”

“I have one more idea, but that’s scandalous and I’m afraid you won’t like it.”

“Tell me.”

Chikara looks in Ryuu’s desperately shining eye, and feels like he is the biggest jerk in the world. It’s not necessary, to pull a prank on him like this, and it’s absolutely not advisable to stall for time in such a dire situation, but he can’t help himself.

“We sneaked out to the forest to make love,” he says, catching just the right moment as Ryuu turns bright red from head to toe. He takes his sweet revenge for years of losing against his friend, in literally everything they ever competed in, except that one class in astronomy he surprisingly excelled at. He savors the moment, burying it deep within his heart as his one little moment against Ryuu. His childish win, no matter how deep he had to sunk for it. It was so worth it, he decides, looking at his friend’s extensive blush. Then, as the moment passes, he gets serious, patting on Ryuu’s shoulder. “Ok, that wouldn’t work, because everyone knows I was looking for Tadashi. Let me remember I actually learned some magic myself, I might be able to cast an illusion of clothes onto you or something.”

 

☆☆☆

 

“Chikara-nii!” Tadashi comes in with a hug so forceful it squeezes all air out of Chikara. “You’re fine!”

“ _You’re_ fine,” Chikara counters. “You really gave me a frighten back there, where did you disappear to?”

“Erm, he was with me in the sentry tower,” Shouyou walks up to them, scratching his head in regret. “He came to ask me a question, and next thing we know, a dragon is in the sky, so I asked him to help with the bell… sorry for the caused confusion.”

“Yeah, well. It’s good to see that you are all fine,” Chikara replies.

“It’s good to see you too in one piece,” Captain Daichi says and he walks up to them to give Chikara a warm handshake. “And thank you for finding Ryuu,” he continues in a quiet tone. “After what happened to his sister, the appearance of a dragon must have been a shock for him.”

“Absolutely,” Chikara nods.

Daichi gives him a warm smile and a reassuring pat on his shoulder, and really, this day could’ve went so much worse. Chikara gives a side glance towards the seemingly distraught Ryuu, who stomps in one place, awkwardly placing his hands on the illusion of his shirt sleeves.

“On another note, Captain…” Chikara starts.

“Yes?”

“What would you say if someone would be willing to rejoin the knights?”

From the corner of his eyes, he catches Ryuu turning deep red once again, and it’s better than anything he could imagine for his trip to the forest before.

“You’re always welcome, Chikara,” Daichi replies. “Along with your brother. I’ve heard from Tsukishima that he took up magic lately. We could use a few new spell casters.”

Tadashi pales beside his brother, freckles more prominent than ever.

“Yes sir! I would gladly join, sir!”

Tadashi and Shouyou follows the Captain as the little search party returns to the village. Chikara falls back, lining up with Ryuu and, for some reason, Tsukishima, who decides to walk beside them.

They walk past the bridge when Chikara feels a soft tap on his shoulder.

“He’s not the only spell caster who’s joining us, I assume,” the blond sorcerer whispers. “Nice illusion skills.”

“Oh, crows… please don’t tell anyone,” Chikara replies, earning an amused glance from the tall boy.

“Only if I can monitor the dragon’s curse.”

“So you knew!”

Tsukishima snorts.

“Guess why I joined the Black Castle?”

“I don’t know whether I should be afraid or impressed by your knowledge.”

“Both is fine,” Tsukishima laughs.

“Oh, by the way, if you don’t mind me asking… what happened with the Chief’s plan to sacrifice Kiyoko-san?”

“Ah, that. Kiyoko-san joined the Black Knights, and the village revolted against the crazy old man. Now Ukai Ikkei is the new Chief.”

“I run out to the forest once and so many things happen.”

“You could say it was a fruitful endeavor though,” Tsukishima sneers, theatrically assessing Ryuu from the behind.

“There’s nothing for you to see there.”

“Oh, so possessive, Chikara-dono.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Ryuu asks, squinting in suspicion.

“Discussing future possibilities, I guess?” Tsukishima offers. “Now that both brothers will join us in the castle, where do you think would we lodge them? I mean, Tadashi is learning magic, same as me, so it would make sense if we shared a room, but where do you think would be a good place for our dear Chikara-dono?”

A blush runs across Ryuu’s face again. _He is so easy to read._

“I could… I mean, it’s not forcing or anything, but… your old bed is still vacant back in our room,” he says, stuttering.

Chikara sighs, sneaking his hand under Ryuu’s to give it a little squeeze without the sorcerer noticing.

“Sounds good,” he replies.


End file.
